Barry Foley was the judge who awarded Paul Felder the decision over Dan Hooker last Sunday at UFC Fight Night 168, as well as giving Magomed Mustafaev the decision over Brad Riddell.

In the main event, Foley gave round three, in which Hooker out-struck Felder 39 to 28 in significant strikes, to Paul Felder. His conclusion after five rounds was that Felder was the victor.

He also gave the third round of Riddell/Mustafaev to Mustafaev, despite Riddell out-striking Mustafaev 17 to 12 in significant strikes.

Official UFC scorecard for Felder vs Hooker

In the years 2018-2020, Barry Foley has so far judged 14 UFC fights. Of these, he has come down on the opposing side of five split decisions. That is, in those five fights, the other two judges gave the fight to the winner, whereas Foley gave it to the loser.

For comparison, judge Howard Hughes (who also judged Hooker/Felder) has judged 31 UFC fights since 2018 and only been the dissenting judge three times on a split decision.

The other Hooker/Felder judge, David Lethaby, has only judged three UFC fights, in none of them coming down on the dissenting side of a split decision.

When a fighter’s income is so greatly influenced by the judges’ call (most fighters get 50% to show, 50% to win), at some point, surely there has to be a sanctioning body which oversees its judges’ officiating with some level of professional scrutiny.

Since 2018, Foley has come down on the wrong side of a split decision 36% of the time. If each judge had to stand before a panel of his/her peers and justify each round they scored, surely, we would see many fewer instances of controversial decisions in fights.

Official UFC scorecard for Riddell vs Mustafaev

Foley’s judging history pre-2018 is less remarkable; however, still reveals examples of dissent on split decisions. Barry Foley has judged a total of 54 UFC fights dating back to 2008. Of these 54, he has been the dissenting judge on 10 separate split decisions.

For Barry Foley’s full UFC judging record, check out MMA Decisions.